The kind of season and Pac-12 Tournament run that Arizona merits a discussion over whether the Wildcats are worthy of a No. 1 seed.
But this year, because the Pac-12 has three teams hovering around the two-seed line, the arguably bigger question whether the Wildcats have earned the right to stay in the NCAA's West Region.
The NCAA selection committee treats conference tournament games like any others at a neutral site, so Arizona is 0-1 against the Ducks on the road and 1-0 on a neutral court.
But Arizona's overall resume appears to have put them in a position to stay in the West. Gonzaga will likely still be the West's No. 1 seed, but both ESPN and CBS now have the Wildcats getting the No. 2 seed in the West.
While the pod system means top seeds will play near home no matter what region they are assigned to during the first weekend, staying in the West means playing in San Jose, Calif., for Sweet 16 and Elite Eight games if a team keeps winning.
UA will might even get to face Gonzaga again in the Elite Eight in San Jose, after having lost to the Zags on Dec. 3 in Los Angeles without Allonzo Trier.
Predictably, UA coach Sean Miller and his players didn't sound like they were making any assumptions.
"Hopefully," Kadeem Allen said of staying in the West with a top seed. "That’s the goal. But I really don’t get into that. I just try to show up to play and wherever we are, we're going to bring our game, show our physicality and try to get the job done."
Miller said at the interview podium that he wasn't going to get caught up in thinking about it.
"Whatever seed we get, it's about us being the most ready," Miller said. "These guys, they have to play great and build on what we did here. Wherever we're sent, our role and objective is to be ready. Doesn't matter. We're not going to be disappointed in any seed. It's a matter of us taking that seed and advancing."
While Trier was named tournament MVP, the all-tournament team was made up of Lauri Markkanen, Oregon's Tyler Dorsey and Dillon Brooks, ASU's Torian Graham and Colorado's Derrick White.
Sitting in the locker room alongside teammates that all wore net snippings on them, Allen said he was proud of Trier.
"It felt good seeing that with all the adversity he’s faced," Allen said. "For him to come here and get that trophy, he deserved it for all the work he put in and people who doubted him. I'm proud and excited he got the trophy and I know the team is also."
Aside from getting Trier and Markkanen both in gear offensively at the same time for the first time this week, another good sign for the Wildcats came out of Saturday's game: They held Oregon to just 27.3-percent shooting from 3-point range.
"If you think about the firepower of both teams from behind the arc, that's one thing for me that I tried to really keep the compass pointed towards," Miller said. "Because in the NCAA Tournament and the Pac-12 Tournament, single elimination, the 3-point shot is deaf. It kills you.
"A team that's not quite as good as you, if they have that night, you can get bounced. And our 3-point defense is one of our strengths. It was a great test in this tournament. I think if you look at our three-point defense, especially against the quality teams we played, that is a good sign for us moving forward, if we can continue."
All the UA podium comments can be found here.
Our full coverage -- our print deadline hit just as interviews began -- along with the box score and stats are attached to this post.
DeAndre Ayton will be playing his final game for Hillcrest Prep today at 1 p.m. in the final of the Grind Session tournament. The game will be held at Arizona Christian in Phoenix and it's also scheduled to be streamed at tanagersports.tv.
